Environmental Advisory Board Meeting

Ogden Dunes Environmental Advisory Board Zoom - March 21, 2023 at 5:30 p.m. Attendees: Bianca Passo, Vicky Albritton, Jon Lehman, Carol Angarola, and Frank Lani. Sue Adams also attended. Review and approve agenda – any additions? No. Review and accept minutes from previous meeting Bianca accepted, Vicky seconded. Community Fund Grant We are going to have a second volunteer day in September and we'll spread seeds in Long Lake Marsh. We've asked for money for Carolina roses but we could decide later to try milkweed instead. More on the flagpole light: Sue A. says we could shield it or replace it with a low wattage bulb instead of buying a new light. Solar lighting would be best though. [More on lighting below.] Rail Safety Letter Frank drafted a letter on rail safety following two high profile derailments. The EAB will send it to Scott Kingan and he will send it on behalf of the town to appropriate public officials. Frank will check on a few details and add to the list of recipients. Save the Dunes Pollution Prevention Roundtable update Bianca reported that this group is finally taking shape. They're putting together educational documents advising citizens on how to keep watch on local industries. Documents include, for instance, a glossary of useful terms such as what an NPDES permit is. Monitoring Nearby Industries https://www.in.gov/idem/resources/lake-michigan-sites-of-interest/ Cleveland Cliffs Update- nothing to report. Monthly water quality monitoring - No issues reported in latest inspection report U.S. Steel Midwest Shoreline Sampling: offline until May. No issues reported in latest Inspection report PreCoat Metals Violations observed in February – They have been emitting far more VOC’s than permitted. https://ecm.idem.in.gov/cs/idcplg?IdcService=GET_FILE&dID=83434720&dDocName=83437925&Rendition=w eb&allowInterrupt=1&noSaveAs=1 Jon said they didn't have the settings on their furnaces right. They had a new hire; perhaps that explains the error. We will follow this on IDEM's Virtual File Cabinet. PreCoat had 30 days to respond and that deadline is coming up. Appoint monitors of nearby industries US Steel - Vicky agreed to continue monitoring. Pre-coat - Bianca agreed to continue monitoring. Cleveland Cliffs - Jon agreed to begin monitoring. Residential lighting task force (Sue Adams) Shielding - Once the shielding gets done we can send out education materials to the town. Flagpoles - Sue says that the Long Lake flagpole light and the Town Hall flagpole light are electric, but it might be more environmentally friendly to use solar instead. There is another flagpole at Kratz, which does not have a light yet but it's across the street from a streetlight, and Sue explained that this should be enough, that it's overkill to put a light on this pole as well. While we should seek to reduce unnecessary lighting, she's wondering whether people will think it's disrespectful not to do so in this case. National Invasive Species Awareness Week - Resolution honoring NISA Week passed by TC Susan MiHalo submitted our resolution in February. The town agreed to acknowledge NISA week every year. This year, we only had time to send out a letter to the town. But we will revisit this in November to prepare for NISA week in 2024. Septic Coordination Workgroup Report Vicky volunteered to take over as the EAB representative for this workgroup. Beach Clean Up – September 16th, 2023 We'll revisit issue in a few months. Beach water quality monitoring Carson and Karen will continue with this. We are waiting for confirmation of the grant from IDEM. Recycling Nothing to report. Ms4 Waiver The Street Department is handling this now. Long Lake Marsh Susan MiHalo will plan community events and Carol agreed to help. Updated ODEAB Web Page Frank's changes are looking good. We still have to update the page that lists EAB members. Frank will publish his final edits. Exploring Indiana Bird Town status Susan MiHalo put Bianca in touch with Jeff Benson from Dune Acres. When Dune Acres did it, they had support from their TC from the start. Cost is an issue. There is a $100 fee just to apply with no sense of whether our TC would be likely to approve. We would have to apply for a grant next year to get that application money or someone would have to pay out of pocket. Discussion revolved around whether this is worth doing. We would like to review the requirements for attaining this status. Would our TC be likely to agree to those requirements? Might we achieve similar results with education alone, following the same path we did on lighting reduction (foregoing any attempt to become an official Dark Skies town)? Is there any guarantee that we would qualify, even if our TC approved? Sue A suggested that we could maybe just focus on the Pollywog Pond area. Frank vowed to push ahead with official Bird Town status. More discussion to follow. New members – 1 open spot Bianca will post something on Facebook. Scott Kingan will send something out to the town about all committee openings. Other Carol proposed to plan a Garden Club. Next Meeting on April 18th Meeting adjourned at 6:30 Minutes written and submitted by Vicky Albritton